Lawn mowers are known in the art. For example, example mowers are discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,138,446, 6,390,225, 6,688,089, 6,438,931, 6,189,304, 6,438,930, 6,658,831, 6,560,952, 2005/0126146, 4,920,733, 2001/0001170, 2002/0059788, 6,438,930, and 5,964,082, the disclosures of all of which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a walk-behind self-propelled power mower, wherein an optional sulky 1 is being pulled behind the mower in a deployed position. The mower shown in FIG. 1 includes a cutter deck 3 for housing at least one cutting blade (now shown), an engine deck 5 for supporting a combustion engine 7 that powers the cutting bladed(s), first and second rear drive wheels 9 and 11, front pivotal castors 13, deck cover 15 for covering pulley systems and belt(s) which couple mechanical energy from the engine 7 to drive the blade(s), gas tank 19, gas tank support structure 21, battery 23 on battery support 25, support bar 27 extending between first and second vertical members 29 of the tractor frame, parking brake lever 31 which when pulled causes braking force to be applied to at least rear drive wheel 9 via brake shoe 33, handle control assembly 35 including rigid member 37 having both a right-hand rigid member 39 and a left-hand rigid member 41 that are fixedly connected to one another via connector 40, right forward control lever 43, right reverse control lever 45, left forward control lever 47, and left reverse control lever 49 (the right forward and reverse control levers 43 and 45 are rigidly connected to one another and pivot together relative to fixed or rigid member 39; whereas the left forward and reverse control levers 47 and 49 are rigidly connected to one another and pivot together relative to fixed or rigid member 41), support assembly 51 including a pair of support members extending upwardly at an angle from engine deck 5 so as to support the handle control assembly, dashboard 53, X-brace 55 for providing support between the support members 51, first and second hydraulic (or hydrostatic/hydro) pumps 57 and 59 for driving and controlling the driving direction of the first and second drive wheels 9 and 11 respectively, via respective wheel motors, right control rod 61 operatively coupled between the right handle control member(s) and the right pump 57, left control rod 63 operatively coupled between the left handle control member(s) and the left pump 59 so as to allow the handle control members to control operation of the pumps and thus the rear drive wheels 9, 11, and latch assembly 65 adapted to receive part of the sulky 1 thereby allowing the sulky to be stored in a stowed position during transport and the like.
In certain example embodiments of this invention, the mower is a zero-turning radius type walk-behind mower. Example zero radius turning mowers are described in each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,920,733, 5,964,082, 5,984,031, and 6,550,563, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. A zero turning radius mower typically includes first and second drive wheels 9 and 11, each of which is independently drivable in both forward and reverse directions. The two drive wheels 9 and 11 may be provided along a common horizontal axis (but not axle) in certain example instances. To perform a zero radius turn, the first rear drive wheel is driven in the forward direction and the second rear drive wheel is driven in the rearward direction at the same time, thereby causing the mower to conduct a zero radius turn about a vertical axis that is located between the rear drive wheels. Each rear drive wheel (9 or 11) of a zero turning radius mower may be driven by its own hydraulic (or hydrostatic) pump (57 or 59), so that one pump is provided for each drive wheel.
While the mower of FIG. 1 is advantageous and an excellent mower, it may be subject to improvement in certain respect(s).